


Redwillow's Reason

by Bumblewish



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Book Series: Omen of the Stars, Character Study, Dark Forest, Gen, Headcanon, I haven't read the Last Hope in a while so I relied on the wiki to attempt writing this, Redwillow might be OOC, There wasn't a pre-existing Blackstar character tag?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:35:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27123268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bumblewish/pseuds/Bumblewish
Summary: The Warriors Wiki stated that Redwillow had become disillusioned by the 'Clan Doctrine'. I decided to study the character of said warrior and come up with a plausible backstory for him.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	Redwillow's Reason

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first character study and unfortunately it's of a background character so Redwillow might be OOC.

Redpaw was only newly apprenticed when Sol shook his views of the only life he knew. Sol had a good point about StarClan’s faults. The young apprentice was disappointed to see Blackstar chase what he thought was ShadowClan’s only way of salvation from the Clans. This idea was further ingrained into Redpaw’s mind after hearing about the disastrous gathering that revealed three half-Clan cats in ThunderClan. Something didn’t feel right about the new treatment they were given over the next six moons.

Redpaw gained his warrior name, Redwillow. He decided that he would protect his Clan at the cost of his life, but only within reason. He wanted to bring his Clan into salvation not unlike Sol. Sol was Redwillow’s inspiration. 

Redwillow was hesitant about StarClan’s message about the blocked off stream, but wasn’t entirely against uniting the Clans to get the water back. He was heavily relieved when his kithood friend, Tigerheart returned with Toadfoot. 

Redwillow is once more disillusioned by StarClan when Russetfur dies in an unexplained border battle soon after. He finds it hard to enjoy life as a ShadowClan warrior with all the fighting and unfair restrictions in place. This only increased his belief in Sol’s ideas about StarClan. 

Redwillow decided that he would use his new alliance with the Dark Forest to pursue his goal of ShadowClan’s salvation. Unsure of his place at first, he’d train with Tigerheart or one of his other two Clanmates that took the Dark Forest’s offer as well. Eventually, Redwillow gained some confidence and created new friendships with the young WindClan warriors, Breezepelt and Sunstrike. 

The determined warrior would go on to try and get a better placing in the Dark Forest’s ranking to secure his alliance. He even considered telling Hawkfrost or Brokenstar about ThunderClan’s newest apprentices, Molepaw and Cherrypaw. He refrained from doing so after deciding that the Dark Forest is no place for such young cats. 

It was only when Dawnpelt blamed Jayfeather for Flametail’s death that Redwillow finally asked himself whether ShadowClan was really salvageable or not. Could it really be worth his time to change ShadowClan if it seemed so incapable of change? At least the Dark Forest was more united. Perhaps he should put all his effort into being a Dark Forest warrior instead. 

Redwillow didn’t regret his decision until the moment Blackstar, the leader that Redwillow thought was weak based on his interactions with Sol, slashed open his chest. His last coherent thoughts were of failure and regret before he collapsed and died before Shredtail, Snowbird, Lionblaze, and Blackstar.

**Author's Note:**

> I decided that Redwillow wasn't a pure evil jerk and actually had some standards that he upheld to, unlike Brokenstar.


End file.
